Man, sons get life in jail after fresh trial of 2013 murder case

A model court has sentenced three men to life imprisonment in an 11-year-old murder case. Sher Afzal and his sons Sajjad (alias Chhota Mani) and Shahzad were found guilty of shooting Sajid (alias Babli) dead and injuring his brother Muhammad Rashid in the Kalri police station’s jurisdiction in May 2013.

Additional Sessions Judge Syed Waqar Hyder of the Model Criminal Trial Court (South) pronounced his order after recording evidence and final arguments from both prosecution and defence sides.

He observed that the prosecution successfully established its case against the accused persons beyond any reasonable doubt, and awarded them life imprisonment for the murder. Additionally, they were handed down 10 years of rigorous imprisonment on the charge of attempted murder, and three more years in jail for causing firearm injury to the brother of the deceased.

The convicts were also told to pay Rs500,000 each as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased, and Rs50,000 each to the injured person. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on each convict, and in case of failure to pay the compensation and fine, they would have to undergo additional imprisonment.

According to the prosecution, complainant Rashid had handed over his suit for sewing to a tailor. When he went to collect the suit, he and tailor Shahzad got into a verbal altercation.

It said that on May 26, 2013, the complainant was standing on Street No. G-05 talking on the phone when Shahzad and his father Sher Afzal approached him and began hurling insults at him, demanding that he leave the area.

The prosecution mentioned that Shahzad’s brother Sajjad joined them and attempted to forcibly take him into the shop, while he called his elder brother Sajid, who arrived to intervene. It said that the accused Sajjad took out a pistol and fired at both the brothers, killing one of them.

On October 23, 2019, the model court had convicted the three accused in the case, after which they filed appeals in the Sindh High Court (SHC) challenging their conviction. On September 19, 2022, the SHC set aside the trial court’s judgement, with the direction of conducting a fresh trial right from the stage of the framing of the charges against them.

The FIR had been lodged under sections 302 (murder), 324 (attempted murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Kalri police station.